Law enforcement forced to get creative to protect schools and students

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Right now a shortage of law enforcement officers could be impacting your child’s safety by making it difficult for some departments to place officers or deputies inside schools.

The experts I spoke with today believe it is a big issue facing not just our community, but the country.

Several departments say the low pay, poor incentives and often times poor treatment are reasons for the drop in the number of people applying for law enforcement jobs.

The National Association of School Resource Officers says he thinks it’s possible even in this year, more schools don’t have school resource officers than do. He also stresses departments have to be creative in their recruiting to keep communities safe.

“One of the more interesting things we have seen and this actually started after the Sandy Hook massacre is some agencies would bring back retired officers, more newly retired officers to fill those roles as school resource officers,” said National Association of School Resource Officers Executive Director Mo Canady.

One department who is attempting to do just that is Calera Police.

Police Chief David Hyche says they have interviewed a few different recent retirees for their full time SRO position openings, and they have had six applicants and interviews for their part time SRO role.

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